Leopard tortoises eat grass and annuals, according to availability. They will also gnaw on bones and eat hyena feces to gain calcium. They are able to swim and will readily take to water. They have a home territory to which they will return from as far as 50 km if removed.

They are often seen on the roads after good rains where they come to drink water. Tortoises should not be picked up or removed form the bush.

I have another one, saw 15.1.2012 in Kgalagadi my book (not a good one, I'm afraid !) speak about Spek's Hingeback, or similar for Eastern Bostwana and adjacent South Africa : Lobatse Hingeback (K. lobatsiana)

what do you think ?

thanks in advance for a reply

It is only with the heart that one can see rightly, what is essential is invisible to the eyeLe Petit Prince back home...

anne-marie wrote::hmz: flat...."____" this line is flat and this one "(" is not flat... it's not easy to describe so the designs are like that :_______ and not () () ()

Great explaination, anne-marie English can be a very confusing sort of language, I think that we would say 'rectangular' (or even 'square') patterns versus 'oval' (or 'curved') patterns on the shell. I think that there is considerable variety in the markings of leopard tortoises, and while I'm absolutely NO expert, I still think that this is a leopard tortoise — and a very nice one, too.